Articles by "Africa"
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts

DBliss Post at December 06, 2017 0
DBliss Post World
Emefiele  

 By Babajide Komolafe | Vanguard News

Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, disclosed that the nation’s external reserves have risen to $38.2 billion, the highest in 39 months.

Emefiele disclosed this in Agbara, Ogun State while commissioning Unilever Plc’s 10,000 metric tonnes Blue Band factory. Emefiele stated: “We have seen reserves move up from the $23 billion I talked about in October 2016, but as I speak today, external reserves are $38.2 billion.” Emefiele said that the Unilever plant was made possible by the foreign exchange restrictions placed on the 41 items. 

He said: “When the restriction of foreign exchange (forex) for the 41 items came on board about two years ago; before that time, Unilever had a factory producing Blue Band margarine. But margarine was also part of the 41 items. The Managing Director and the executive team of Unilever Nigeria visited me in Abuja and said they wanted us to grant them some form of forbearance.

I said there was not going to be any forbearance, but that if he promised to re-establish the factory in Nigeria because as at that time their factory had been dismantled in Nigeria and taken to another country.

“And he (Unilever managing director) made a promise that between 12 to 18 months the factory would be re-established in Nigeria. Based on that, we granted them some form of forbearance that made it easy for them to import margarine into Nigeria, but we kept monitoring them and we were discussing. 

“The entire essence is to say that by re-establishing that factory here in Nigeria, he has created direct jobs for Nigerians in this factory. He created indirect jobs for Nigerians by virtue of the fact that he buys palm oil which is part of the formulation that he uses in producing margarine.” What does it take produce margarine? It is mixing oil and water. By creating indirect jobs by buying from people producing oil in Nigeria, he feeds millions of people.

 “That is the entire idea. I keep saying we do not have foreign exchange to allocate to import products that can be produced in Nigeria. I am happy that Unilever has proved us right that Blue Band margarine can be produced in this country. So far they are doing about 10,000 metric tonnes per annum and he has promised that he is going to ramp it up to 50,000 metric tonnes. By doing so you create jobs, which is what we are talking about. By creating jobs, you save the country forex that is needed to create jobs.”
Read more »

AFP at December 04, 2017 0
DBliss Post World
President Joseph Kabila took office after his father Laurent was assassinated in 2001 (AFP/File / Bryan R. Smith)

Former militants were recruited by the Democratic Republic of Congo government for a bloody crackdown on protests against the president that left dozens of people dead last year, a rights group alleged Monday.

Human Rights Watch said President Joseph Kabila's regime had drafted in fighters previously active in the M23 rebel group from Uganda and Rwanda to suppress the December 2016 demonstrations, which erupted when he refused to step down at the end of his term in power.

The right group's allegations came as the country faces a new flare-up of violence after Kabila pushed back a much-delayed new vote until December 2018, with the opposition demanding that the veteran leader resign sooner.

"Senior security force officers in the Democratic Republic of Congo mobilized over 200 former M23 rebel fighters from neighboring countries to quash protests against President Joseph Kabila in December 2016," HRW said in a report.

It said Congolese security forces acting with M23 fighters killed at least 62 people and arrested hundreds more as the protests swept through the vast African country between 19 and 22 December 2016.

M23, a mostly ethnic Tutsi rebel group, was defeated in November 2013 at the hands of Congolese and UN forces. Hundreds of fighters fled the country but officials and residents in the eastern region of Kivu have said they had seen militants return.

Congo's resource-rich eastern provinces have suffered years of brutal conflict, with neighbouring states backing rebel groups in a civil war against Kinshasa's authority, and roaming armed militia triggering the mass flight of terrorised civilians.

HRW said its research was based on more than 120 interviews and that during the protests, "M23 fighters patrolled the streets of Congo's main cities, firing on or arresting protesters or anyone else deemed to be a threat to the president".

"Covert operations to recruit fighters from an abusive armed group to suppress any resistance show how far President Kabila and his coterie are willing to go to stay in power," said Ida Sawyer, the organisation's Central Africa director.

"Congolese officials should end all unlawful use of force against protesters and allow peaceful political activities by activists and the political opposition."

Opposition forces are demanding Kabila -- who took office after his father Laurent was assassinated in 2001 -- step down on December 31, but authorities made several arrests ahead of an opposition march earlier this month.
Read more »

DBliss Post at October 27, 2017 0


A South African judge on Friday handed down jail terms of 19 and 16 years to two white farmers who filmed themselves forcing a black man into a coffin and threatening to burn him alive.

Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Martins Jackson, who both shifted nervously in the dock, laid their heads on the bench after their sentencing while female family members wept in the public gallery.

"The conduct of the accused was most dehumanising and disgusting," said judge Segopotje Mphahlele, handing down sentence in the High Court sitting in Middelburg, 165 kilometres (100 miles) east of Johannesburg.

They had pleaded not guilty over the incident last year in the eastern province of Mpumalanga, saying they only intended to scare Victor Mlotshwa whom they accused of stealing copper cables from their farm.

They were convicted on August 25 of attempted murder as well as kidnap, intimidation and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Oosthuizen was sentenced to a 16-year term with five years suspended, while Jackson was jailed for 19 years, five years of which was also suspended.

"The most appalling act of the accused was to put the complainant in a coffin against his will," said Mphahlele.

"Whilst in the coffin they threatened to set it alight. They asked him how he wanted to died -- quickly or slowly.

"The conduct of the accused... goes against the spirit of the constitution."

The judge added that it was not the first time that the men had forced someone into a coffin against their will, saying their behaviour "raised and fuelled racial tension" in South Africa

- 'Lack of remorse' -

Two clips of footage taken on their mobile phones showed the assailants shoving Mlotshwa down into the wooden coffin and pressing the lid closed with their boots as he begged for mercy.

When the first phone footage emerged several months ago, it triggered national outrage and led to the arrest of the two men.

"Please don't kill me," Mlotshwa begged the men while in the coffin, the footage showed.


"Why shouldn't we, when you are killing our farm?" one of the convicted men replied.

Throughout the case, the men denied that their actions had caused the victim to fear for his life.

"The evidence of the accused and the conduct of the accused during their trial clearly displays a lack of remorse," said Mphahlele.

Mlotshwa was in court to hear the sentences against the two men, who had alleged that he had threatened to kill their families and burn farm crops before being forced into the coffin.

Mlotshwa, who sat directly behind the families of the convicted men, smiled following the sentencing.

On the phone footage, which was shown in court during the trial, one of the men said "Come, come. We want to throw the petrol on".

They are also seen threatening to put a snake in the coffin.

Supporters of the ruling African National Congress party, which has supported Mlotshwa during the case, celebrated in the courtroom after the long custodial sentences were handed down.

Mlotshwa said he was walking to the town of Middelburg to buy provisions for his mother and had decided to use a short cut when the two men spotted him.
Read more »
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)